We were lucky to catch up with Lynn Wilford Scarborough recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lynn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Desperate Beginnings – For Mom with Love and Nutrition
The concept for Cheeza Pleeza first began because my mom, who was in a nursing home, asked me to make her a homemade pimento cheese sandwich for lunch. Mom was a foodie who had traveled the world and appreciated flavor. Like many nursing home residents, she had food fatigue and wasn’t eating enough protein. The lack of nutrition was affecting her mental capabilities and overall health.

Mom didn’t want the “traditional grocery pimento cheese” because it tasted artificial and “glowed in the dark.” She wanted a real homemade pimento cheese. I was desperate to get protein into her system instead, of “meal replacement drinks” filled with sugar, salt, and chemicals. Even though I didn’t like store-made pimento cheese, I was happy to make a healthier version for Mom. Mom had health issues with sugar and salt so it was time to reinvent the traditional recipe. To increase the nutritional density I added more cheeses (like in a cheese ball), eliminated the sugar, fillers, and processed cheeses; and replaced salt with spices. It worked, Mom loved it, and so did her friends and staff at the nursing home.

After Mom passed I decided to make some to sell Cheeza Pleeza spreads at the local Farmers Market. It sold out immediately. Then a few months later a local store asked for me to make some for the store. Since then we have grown in the DFW metroplex and Texas. During Covid, some of our stores asked us to make more flavors and we have tested over 55 different products.

Cheeza Pleeza – Healthy Alternative
In making healthy lunches for my mom, the “Cheeza Pleeza” KETO spreads were born. The fresh ingredients and spices have great flavor (Five Cheese Pimento, Dill Pickle, Hatch Green Chile) and the cheese and dip products are sugar/carb free and have 2/3 less sodium than leading brands.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

We live in a fast-paced world. People are on the go, multitasking and skipping meals. The US snacking market is over $150 billion. Every day, 60% of adults are substituting snacks for meals. In a “Snackaholic world, ” consumers demand tasty snacks with more protein, less sugar, and fewer calories.

I’ve been a lifelong foodie and home chef but my former career path was in media and Television News. As a corporate trainer and communications coach, I had the opportunity to travel the nation to experience the amazing sights, and best restaurants in 48 states. Starting a specialty food company was never on the must do list. However, when my mom’s health sent her to a nursing home; life changed. When I made the Five Cheese Savory Pimento, I was just to help mom. Having a gourmet, keto, cheese, and dip company with over 50 flavors was never on the radar. This has been a surprise and honor to make healthier comfort food products that make life easier for moms, seniors, and folks who don’t have time to cook.

Cheeza Pleeza makes great food for busy people who care about nutrition. Cheeza Pleeza is a new concept in the cheese world – we make delicious spreadable KETO cheeseballs and dips in a variety of flavors. Our products are perfect for busy individuals who want a convenient, tasty snack, meal replacement, or a way to add a flavor upgrade to sandwiches, burgers, or pasta. Cheeza products provide a healthier alternative with big flavors that still satisfy cravings.

Cheeza Pleeza isn’t just about great snacks, it’s about health. Our long-term mission is to develop and launch a line of nutritionally dense, vitamin-enriched foods for busy people and seniors.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Cheeza Pleeza launched in February of 2019, a few months before COVID-19. The key objectives were building the business and cash flow through events, Dallas Farmer’s Markets, and festivals. We were targeting selling into convenience stores and food services. However, COVID forced us to pivot back into smaller local stores and farmer’s markets that remained open in Ft. Worth and Tarrant County Texas area.

During the pandemic, the smaller local stores couldn’t get enough product for the shelves and they asked us to make more inventory and as many flavors and products as possible. We had unlimited opportunities to test new products, and unique flavors and develop SKUS.

Developing the different flavors allowed us the opportunity to market research and gather immediate customer feedback for dozens of cheese spreads, dips. It also helped us identify the best sellers, strengthen our customer base, and establish our brand position as “Vintage Comfort Food Reinvented” for a global palate.

The core flavors that are now sold through Central Market are Hatch Green Chile Cheeza, Five Cheese Savory Pimento, and Mega Garlic Dip. Because of the COVID Challenge we developed over 50 different products in the cheese spread, dip, hummus, bean dip, and sweet Cheeza (bagel/cookie dips) categories. Area stores and customers demand the Dill Pickle Palooza, Poblano Jack, Pizza Pizzazz, Cajun Spice, Greek Holiday or Tasty Taco cheese spreads and more.

Do you have any stories of times when you almost missed payroll or any other near death experiences for your business?

Moving into our first grocery chain was a huge learning experience. In life, we know things but in the consumer package goods industry, it is often what you don’t know that will bring you down. When it comes to details and packaging this is very true. Watching the details, even when you have double-checked in the past is important.

One of the valuable lessons I learned in the first months of the business is never to assume and to always, always triple edit all packaging copy.

We had started a big launch in the store and noticed that our best-selling product, Hatch Green Chile Cheeza, had no sales numbers, even though we saw dozens of people buying it. We noticed that another product had double the sales than normal. We looked at the labels and discovered that Hatch and Five Cheese Savory Pimento Cheeza had the same barcode. I was horrified and couldn’t believe my eyes! In all the revisions, over and over again, we had checked to make sure the barcodes were correct. But, how did this happen and why didn’t we see it?

I knew not to assume that the graphics were correct, but this time, I missed it. After finalizing the label we had to make one more spacing change. However, the graphic editor messed up and used the wrong barcode for the correction. None of us caught the error until hundreds of units were on the store shelves. This was so embarrassing. I quickly took my licks and notified the stores with a proactive solution. Naturally, they weren’t happy. In the end, we had to replace over 20 cases and had to work very hard to restore confidence with the customer.

This was a great growth experience that taught invaluable lessons. As Mark Twain said, “Humble pie is best eaten while warm.” Mistakes happen and when they do take responsibility and have a solution. When it comes to printed materials, always remember to check, check and triple-check all packaging labels, sales sheets, etc. Don’t assume it is fine and remember AI isn’t perfect. No matter how many times you have reviewed a label or documents, before printing, it is good policy to find one or two people with “Fresh Eyes”.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.CheezaPleeza.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cheeza_pleeza/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CheezaPleeza
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynn-wilford-scarborough-a779965/

Image Credits

I took the photo and made the graphics. . so I guess photo credit goes to Lynn Wilford or Copyright CheezaPleezallc.

I am looking for another image. . and
I will try to get the new linked in page made for Cheeza.

The twitter page has been a result of SM neglect so don’t really want to mention it until is a bit better.